NIC Interpreting & Transliterating Skills 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does the term 'register' refer to in the context of ASL interpreting?
- The volume at which a hearing interpreter voices
- The level of formality, style, and vocabulary choices appropriate to a given communication context (Correct answer)
- The handshape register used to distinguish similar signs
- The speed of fingerspelling in formal settings
Correct answer: The level of formality, style, and vocabulary choices appropriate to a given communication context
Register encompasses the formality level and stylistic choices an interpreter makes to match the tone and context of the source message.
Question 2: A Deaf consumer's ASL incorporates heavy use of constructed action (role-shifting). When voicing this into English, the interpreter should:
- Avoid direct quotes and summarize in third person for clarity
- Use direct quotes and shift vocal quality or pacing to convey the different characters and actions the Deaf person enacts (Correct answer)
- Gloss the constructed action signs literally
- Ask the consumer to reduce role-shifting to simplify the interpretation
Correct answer: Use direct quotes and shift vocal quality or pacing to convey the different characters and actions the Deaf person enacts
Constructed action conveys dialogue and perspective; voicing interpreters should use direct speech and vocal variation to mirror this richness.
Question 3: Which of the following is an example of a false cognate challenge in ASL-to-English interpreting?
- A sign that looks like an initialized sign but has a completely different meaning (Correct answer)
- Using the same handshape for two unrelated signs in different locations
- Fingerspelling a word the interpreter does not recognize
- Voicing the wrong English synonym for an ASL sign
Correct answer: A sign that looks like an initialized sign but has a completely different meaning
False cognates in ASL interpreting occur when a sign's visual form suggests one English meaning but the intended meaning is different.
Question 4: An interpreter working in a mental health setting is asked by the clinician to share their personal impressions of the Deaf client's mental state. The interpreter should:
- Comply, as the interpreter's unique access to the client's language makes their opinion valuable
- Decline and explain that their role is to interpret, not to offer clinical assessments (Correct answer)
- Offer a brief observation but note it is outside their professional scope
- Write a confidential note about their impressions after the session
Correct answer: Decline and explain that their role is to interpret, not to offer clinical assessments
Interpreters must maintain role boundaries; offering clinical impressions exceeds the interpreter role and can harm the consumer.
Question 5: When an interpreter uses the technique of 'chunking' during simultaneous interpreting, they are:
- Breaking a long signed sentence into short voiced phrases produced one at a time
- Grouping meaningful units of the source message together before rendering them as cohesive target-language segments (Correct answer)
- Summarizing content to reduce cognitive load
- Pausing frequently to allow the speaker to catch up
Correct answer: Grouping meaningful units of the source message together before rendering them as cohesive target-language segments
Chunking involves processing and rendering meaningful semantic units together, improving fluency and accuracy in simultaneous interpreting.
Question 6: During a team interpreting assignment, the active interpreter signals to their partner that they need relief. The most professional way for the support interpreter to respond is to:
- Immediately take over mid-sentence to minimize delay
- Wait for the next natural pause or sentence break, then smoothly transition (Correct answer)
- Ask the Deaf consumer's permission before switching
- Verbally announce the switch to all parties before taking over
Correct answer: Wait for the next natural pause or sentence break, then smoothly transition
Transitioning at a natural break maintains message cohesion and avoids disrupting the communication flow for consumers.
Question 7: Which skill does the NIC exam specifically assess through its 'voice-to-sign' segment?
- The interpreter's ability to transliterate English into MCE systems only
- The interpreter's ability to render a spoken English source message into ASL with grammatical accuracy, cultural appropriateness, and meaning equivalence (Correct answer)
- The interpreter's knowledge of English grammar rules
- The interpreter's speed in producing ASL signs per minute
Correct answer: The interpreter's ability to render a spoken English source message into ASL with grammatical accuracy, cultural appropriateness, and meaning equivalence
The voice-to-sign segment of the NIC performance exam assesses the full range of ASL production skills in response to an authentic spoken source.
NIC Interpreting & Transliterating Skills 5
What does the term 'register' refer to in the context of ASL interpreting?